❓ The opposition questions the Minister for Police regarding a reported increase in crime rates and the effectiveness of current policing strategies. The Minister defends the government's record on crime reduction and supports the police force.
AnsweredQoN 7Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
POLICE —
CRIME RATES — INCREASE
7. Mrs M.H. ROBERTS to the Minister for
Police:
I, too, congratulate the Minister
for Police on her new role as Deputy Premier.
We have had eight months of
double-digit crime increases, and crime in this state is currently running at a
massive 17 per cent above the rate for the same eight-month period in the
previous year.
(1) Will the minister now admit that
Operation Sweep has been a failure?
(2) Will the minister now admit that
her new policing model, Frontline 2020, has failed?
(3) Does the
minister now concede that her new plan, Operation Tweak, is actually a massive
overhaul of her failed policing model?
CRIME RATES — INCREASE
7. Mrs M.H. ROBERTS to the Minister for
Police:
I, too, congratulate the Minister
for Police on her new role as Deputy Premier.
We have had eight months of
double-digit crime increases, and crime in this state is currently running at a
massive 17 per cent above the rate for the same eight-month period in the
previous year.
(1) Will the minister now admit that
Operation Sweep has been a failure?
(2) Will the minister now admit that
her new policing model, Frontline 2020, has failed?
(3) Does the
minister now concede that her new plan, Operation Tweak, is actually a massive
overhaul of her failed policing model?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(3) I
thank the member for Midland for the question. In short, the answers are no, no
and there is no ''Operation Tweak''—a nice little attempt
at humour there; I think it went down really well!
With respect to the crime stats, yes,
we have been talking a lot about crime stats in this state. In response to the
increases that we have seen this year compared with those of last year, the
Commissioner of Police has announced some changes to his operating model. But
we should not forget the fact that this government has put in 500 additional
police and police auxiliary officers since 2008, and we are well on track to
delivering our additional 550 commitment, which we will achieve by 2017. Those
extra resources going into the WA Police service plus the change in the
operating model to the Frontline 2020 model has allowed the police to respond
to these increases in crime and better target the efforts of our local policing
teams.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members!
Mrs L.M. HARVEY :
We need to remember and people need to understand that out of Operation Sweep
and the Frontline 2020 model we have started to see a 15 per cent increase in
the number of charges laid. We are starting to see the availability —
Mrs
M.H. Roberts interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Midland!
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : We are starting to see the availability of police resources in
the busy times—the Friday and Saturday nights, when we know we see
peaks in crime. We have up to 18 per cent additional cars on the road to
respond to crime. We have seen our priority 1 and 2 response times improve, so
we have moved closer to our key performance indicators. In fact, those
improvements —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : I am very proud of those improvements. Let us not forget where
we came from. Over the past 10 years, we have seen a dramatic decrease in
reported crime in this state. I know the people opposite do not like it, but
back in 2004–05—I am not sure who was the minister then, but it
was not one of us —
Dr
A.D. Buti interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Armadale!
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : — there were 9 603 reported offences per 100 000
people. It is now down to 8 006. That is still a big number; we do not accept 8
006, but, by gee, it is a lot better than 9 603. There were 1 328 burglary
offences per 100 000 people. Where are we now? It is 1 013 per 100 000. That is
still too big a number. We have not given up on that, but it is a hell of a lot
better than it was when those opposite were in government. I think the member
for Midland may well have been minister.
We will continue to work on driving
down crime stats. This Liberal–National government has been in
government for seven of the last 10 years. Yes, we take credit and
responsibility for driving down those crime rates. They bump around a bit, but
the trend is downward.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members! Member
for Midland, I call you to order for the first time. Wind this up please.
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : I will continue to support my police commissioner, I will
continue to support my executive team of police and I will continue to support
the efforts of our police officers, who have not only been dealing with
unprecedented change in their policing model but they have been working their
butts off out in our community collaring offenders and bringing them before the
courts. As a result of our legislation, more of them will go behind bars and we
will start to see crime decrease.
thank the member for Midland for the question. In short, the answers are no, no
and there is no ''Operation Tweak''—a nice little attempt
at humour there; I think it went down really well!
With respect to the crime stats, yes,
we have been talking a lot about crime stats in this state. In response to the
increases that we have seen this year compared with those of last year, the
Commissioner of Police has announced some changes to his operating model. But
we should not forget the fact that this government has put in 500 additional
police and police auxiliary officers since 2008, and we are well on track to
delivering our additional 550 commitment, which we will achieve by 2017. Those
extra resources going into the WA Police service plus the change in the
operating model to the Frontline 2020 model has allowed the police to respond
to these increases in crime and better target the efforts of our local policing
teams.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members!
Mrs L.M. HARVEY :
We need to remember and people need to understand that out of Operation Sweep
and the Frontline 2020 model we have started to see a 15 per cent increase in
the number of charges laid. We are starting to see the availability —
Mrs
M.H. Roberts interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Midland!
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : We are starting to see the availability of police resources in
the busy times—the Friday and Saturday nights, when we know we see
peaks in crime. We have up to 18 per cent additional cars on the road to
respond to crime. We have seen our priority 1 and 2 response times improve, so
we have moved closer to our key performance indicators. In fact, those
improvements —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : I am very proud of those improvements. Let us not forget where
we came from. Over the past 10 years, we have seen a dramatic decrease in
reported crime in this state. I know the people opposite do not like it, but
back in 2004–05—I am not sure who was the minister then, but it
was not one of us —
Dr
A.D. Buti interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Armadale!
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : — there were 9 603 reported offences per 100 000
people. It is now down to 8 006. That is still a big number; we do not accept 8
006, but, by gee, it is a lot better than 9 603. There were 1 328 burglary
offences per 100 000 people. Where are we now? It is 1 013 per 100 000. That is
still too big a number. We have not given up on that, but it is a hell of a lot
better than it was when those opposite were in government. I think the member
for Midland may well have been minister.
We will continue to work on driving
down crime stats. This Liberal–National government has been in
government for seven of the last 10 years. Yes, we take credit and
responsibility for driving down those crime rates. They bump around a bit, but
the trend is downward.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members! Member
for Midland, I call you to order for the first time. Wind this up please.
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : I will continue to support my police commissioner, I will
continue to support my executive team of police and I will continue to support
the efforts of our police officers, who have not only been dealing with
unprecedented change in their policing model but they have been working their
butts off out in our community collaring offenders and bringing them before the
courts. As a result of our legislation, more of them will go behind bars and we
will start to see crime decrease.
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